Quick Quiz: show us what you know about Pukekohe Park Raceway, and be in to win!

6 October, 2015

Pukekohe Park Raceway is widely considered to be the home of New Zealand motorsport. For many, it’s the location where their love affair with all things fast first kicked off — many a fan quick to proclaim that they know everything about the place they lovingly refer to as ‘Puke’.

But how well do you know Pukekohe Park Raceway? We’ve assembled a list of questions about the sacred grounds at the southernmost point of Auckland, and, if you take the quiz, you’ll be in to win an awesome V8 Supercars ITM 500 Auckland, 6-8 November prize package consisting of two three-day Platinum Reserved Grandstand tickets, as well as two Paddock passes — all adding up to a total value of over $500!

To enter, all you need to do is complete the quiz below, then fill out the form underneath with a few of your details, and your quiz score. It’s as easy as that! 

Pukekohe Park Raceway: take the quiz and be in to win

Motorsport Flashback –The right racing recipes, and cake

If a top-fuel dragster sits atop the horsepower list of open-wheel racing cars, then cars designed for the massively successful Formula Ford category are close to the opposite end. Invented in the mid-1960s as a cheap alternative to F3 for racing schools, the concept was staggeringly simple: introduce the Ford Kent pushrod to a spaceframe chassis; keep engine modifications to a minimum; same tyres for all; ban aerodynamic appendages; and you get the most phenomenally successful single-seater class of racing car the world has ever seen.
The first-ever race for these 1600cc mini-GP cars took place in England in July 1967, but it quickly took off. The US and Australia were among the earliest adopters. It took us a little longer because we had the much-loved National Formula, comprising predominantly Brabhams, Ken Smith’s Lotus, and Graham McRae’s gorgeous self-built cars, all powered by the Lotus-Ford twin-cam. After a memorable championship in 1968/69 the class was nearly on its knees a year later. The quality was still there with Smith winning his national title, just, from McRae, but the numbers had fallen. Formula Ford was the obvious replacement and was introduced for the 1970/71 season as ‘Formula C’.

Angela’s ashes

In November 2018, Howard Anderson had a dream of finding a 1964 Vauxhall PB Cresta to recreate the car he, his wife, Ruth, and three friends travelled in from London to Invercargill in 1969. The next night’s dream was a nightmare. He dreamed he would find the original Angela but it was a rusted wreck somewhere in Southland.
Howard’s inspiration came from reading about a driver in the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon who was reunited with his Vauxhall Ventora 50 years later. He, Ruth, and her parents had watched the start of the rally from Crystal Palace in South London. The fashion at the time among the rally and race set was to paint bonnets flat black to avoid the sun’s reflections flashing into the driver’s eyes, thus saving them from certain disaster. Howard admired the flat black bonnet on the Ventora so much he had Angela’s bonnet painted dull black.